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MARGARITE NATHE
peacock alley
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Craving That Buzz
twins, including heritability estimates of
77 percent for heavy caffeine use.
But researchers have had a hard time
pinning down specific genes that influence habitual use, dependency and addiction. The exception is another popular
stimulant: nicotine. Some studies have
shown that habitual tobacco use is tied to
certain gene variations. It’s likely that
genes play a role in alcohol consumption
and other behaviors, too, the study
authors say.
The data that Monda, Cornelis and
their colleagues analyzed was pooled from
five epidemiological studies conducted
between 1984 and 2001, including one
based at UNC called ARIC (or the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study).
Vast amounts of data are now available
from those studies and their 47,341 participants, including DNA samples from
each. Now that more advanced genomic
methods have come along, researchers are
able to analyze the data in many different
ways. The caffeine study is one small portion of the research possible with such a
massive data set.
Caffeine is the most widely consumed
psychoactive substance in the world.
Nearly 90 percent of us eat or drink it
every day. Americans spend some $40 billion on coffee every year.
Even so, we’ve never been sure how
caffeine affects our health. Some studies
have associated it with all kinds of benefits
— lower risk of diabetes, liver cancer and
Parkinson’s disease. Others have hinted
that too much could be bad for us —
higher risk of heart palpitations, high
blood pressure and even miscarriage and
stillbirth. It’s possible that our individual
genetic profiles determine whether caf-
feine is good for us or not.
University Square
123 West Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
www.peacockalleygifts.com
Keri Monda is an assistant professor in
the department of epidemiology, and David
Couper, another UNC study author, is a
research associate professor in the department
of biostatistics, both in UNC’s Gillings
School of Global Public Health. Marilyn
Cornelis is a research associate in the department of nutrition at Harvard. Their study
was published in PLoS Genetics on April
7, 2011. Funding came from the National
Cancer Institute.
Contact Don Skelly
at (540)406-1370
dskelly@farmandestate.net
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